Handling of fugitive call proper, Ruidoso police chief says

After investigating how a call to the Ruidoso Police Department Jan. 11, about a fugitive was processed, Chief Joe Magill is satisfied that the alert was handled promptly and adequately, he said Friday.

"Lt. Wade Proctor and I looked into the whole thing and we pulled the recording devices," Magill said. "We determined that the call did not come in on the 9-1-1 line and that it was in reference to a vehicle possibly associated with (Aaron Ramos, who was wanted on outstanding weapon and drug violation warrants). He didn't necessarily see Ramos, but he suspected (Ramos) might be in a particular room."

Steven Quinn, a maintenance worker at the Travel Lodge hotel, told the Ruidoso News he call 9-1-1 when employees learned Ramos was at the lodging business, but that he was told the police didn't have enough evidence to search a room. He said he later was threatened by Ramos.

"The information was given to officers and they responded within one minute. They were in the area," Magill said. "They circled the hotel in an attempt to spot the tan Suburban that had been described, but didn't locate it. They took down license plate numbers and ran them. Then they backed off and staged in an area where they could see the traffic around the hotel for quite a while."

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Magill said Quinn may have thought no one responded because no one contacted him about the actions of the officers. Quinn didn't specifically ask to be contacted, but a dispatcher called him back and asked him to contact the department if he spotted Ramos, the chief said.

As for Quinn's statement that Ramos later threatened him, Magill wondered how the fugitive found out police were called and why Quinn waited to report the threat until late Sunday. "I would have called right away if I was threatened," Magill said.

"We respond quickly and thoroughly to all calls received," the chief said.

Quinn said Friday that Ramos visited a registered guest at the hotel several times before the law enforcement raid Jan. 7 on the apartment he was renting, and once he was escorted off the property because of complaints.

"The police called back and told me and my boss they were not sending anyone," Quinn said. "My boss called down to the room and told the woman she couldn't have those people there. The police know that."

The manager was going to ask the woman to leave, but officers thought if she stayed, Ramos might be drawn back to the hotel, he said.

As for the call coming in on a line other than 9-1-1, Quinn said no matter what line he called, he did not see a response from officers. Quinn said he didn't consider the difference between the threat occurring on Saturday and reporting it on Sunday much of a lag time.